Category Archives: Afghanistan

US withdrawal triggered catastrophic defeat of Afghan forces, damning watchdog report finds

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Report by special inspector general blames Trump and Biden administrations, as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani

Afghan armed forces collapsed last year because they had been made dependent on US support that was abruptly withdrawn in the face of a Taliban offensive, according to a scathing assessment by a US government watchdog.

A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) on the catastrophic defeat that led to the fall of Kabul on 15 August, blamed the administrations of Donald Trump and Joe Biden as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani.

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Afghan judges hoping for UK asylum not treated consistently, say lawyers

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High court to hear claims that judges ‘in a very precarious position’ hiding from Taliban have faced long delays

Alleged inconsistencies in the way the UK Home Office and Foreign Office process asylum applications from vulnerable judges in hiding in Afghanistan are being challenged at the high court on Tuesday.

If successful, the three separate judicial reviews will require the Home Office to undertake a wholesale rethink of how it is handling cases. The reviews – anonymised to protect the claimants from persecution by the Taliban – cover a male judge and a female judge who have had their applications for asylum rejected, and a prominent female women’s rights activist.

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Taliban dissolves Afghanistan’s human rights commission as ‘unnecessary’

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Four other government departments scrapped as cash-strapped regime faces $500m budget deficit

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan dissolved five key departments of the former US-backed government, including the country’s human rights commission, deeming them unnecessary in the face of a financial crunch, an official said.

Afghanistan faced a budget deficit of 44bn Afghanis ($501m) this financial year, Taliban authorities said as they announced their first annual national budget since taking over last August.

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Afghanistan face veil decree: ‘I’ve lost the right to choose my clothes’

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Women say they fear going out in public despite Taliban vow to respect hard-won rights after 2021 takeover

Despite everything that has happened to her country since the Taliban seized power last August, 29-year old Nafisa still never believed there would come a day when she would be unable to feel the sun on her face as she walked the streets of Kabul.

Yet on Saturday, the Taliban’s sinisterly named ministry for the propagation of virtue ordered that Nafisa, along with millions of women across Afghanistan, should ideally not leave the house at all. If they do, they must be fully veiled and never show their faces in public.

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Taliban order all Afghan women to cover their faces in public

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Decree forces male relatives to police law by making them liable to fines or prison for breaches

The Taliban have ordered all women to cover their faces in public in Afghanistan, the latest sweeping restriction by a government that has taken away women’s right to travel long distances alone, work outside healthcare or education, and receive a secondary education.

In a cruel twist, the decree makes women’s relatives and employers the enforcers. If their faces are seen in public, their male “guardian” will be fined, then jailed. If the woman who goes out uncovered or her relative work for the government, they must be fired.

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Witness agrees with Ben Roberts-Smith that no fighting-aged men were inside tunnel, court hears

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Absence of people in tunnel key to Roberts-Smith’s claim in defamation action that alleged war crimes couldn’t have taken place

The soldier who discovered the infamous tunnel in Whiskey 108 says there were no fighting-aged males hiding inside, backing Ben Roberts-Smith’s version of events of a fiercely contested mission in Afghanistan, the federal court has heard.

Roberts-Smith’s fourth soldier witness, a still-serving warrant officer anonymised as Person 29, gave evidence on Wednesday about a 2009 SAS raid on a compound known as Whiskey 108 in the village of Kakarak – an insurgent redoubt in Afghanistan’s southern Uruzgan province.

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Judge in Afghanistan ‘backstabbed’ by UK government’s refusal of sanctuary

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Officials say man in hiding who helped prosecute terrorists does not meet relocation criteria, despite high court ruling in his favour

A senior judge who prosecuted terrorists and is now in hiding in Afghanistan feels “heartbroken, abandoned and backstabbed” by the British government for refusing to bring him to safety despite a high court ruling in his favour.

The high-profile judge, whom the Guardian is not naming for his safety, also received strong support from two former independent reviewers of terrorism legislation.

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Blast at Kabul mosque kills more than 50 worshippers

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Explosion in Afghan capital is latest in string of attacks on civilians during Ramadan

A powerful explosion has killed more than 50 worshippers after Friday prayers at a Kabul mosque, the latest of a series of attacks on civilian targets in Afghanistan during Ramadan.

The blast hit the Khalifa Sahib mosque in the west of the capital in the early afternoon, according to Besmullah Habib, the deputy spokesperson for the interior ministry.

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Six killed in bomb blasts at Shia school in Afghan capital

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Two explosions rock boys' school in Kabul as students were coming out of their morning classes

At least six people have been killed and 11 wounded in two bomb blasts at a boys’ school in a Hazara Shia neighbourhood of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The frequency of bomb blasts in the country has declined significantly since the Taliban ousted the US-backed Afghan government in August last year, but Islamic State has claimed several attacks.

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Australia has ‘moral duty’ to take 20,000 more Afghan refugees, Catholic bishops say

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Election statement also calls for a special intake of Ukrainians and a wider reassessment of refugee policies

Australia’s Catholic bishops have called for a special intake of 20,000 refugees from Afghanistan, saying the country has a “moral duty” to do more.

As part of its election statement, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said the country had an obligation to take more refugees from Afghanistan because of the support shown to Australian military forces.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: SAS colleague felt threatened to testify by newspapers, court hears

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Soldier refused to answer questions about one mission on grounds of self-incrimination on offence of ‘the most serious nature’

An SAS soldier who refused to answer questions about an alleged unlawful killing in Afghanistan has told the federal court he felt threatened to testify by the newspapers being sued by Ben Roberts-Smith.

The soldier, anonymised before the court as Person 56, refused to answer questions about a 2012 mission to Fasil, where, it has previously been alleged, he and Roberts-Smith were responsible for the unlawful killing of two Afghan men who had been taken prisoner from a vehicle.

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MEPs voice fury as Greek judges again postpone refugees’ smuggling appeal

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Second adjournment prolongs agony of Afghans Amir Zahiri and Akif Rasuli, serving 50-year sentences for piloting a migrant boat

MEPs appalled by “shocking” legal proceedings against two Afghans convicted of people smuggling in Greece have vowed to raise the issue with the European parliament.

Lawmakers who had flown into Lesbos for a scheduled appeals court hearing of the asylum seekers on Thursday – the second in three weeks – were outraged when judges again adjourned the case, prolonging the agony of the refugees, who are currently serving 50-year prison terms.

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UN donor conference falls billions short of $4.4bn target to help Afghanistan

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Conference raises only $2.44bn as Russian foreign minister says west is responsible for country’s humanitarian crisis

The world’s donor drought, and growing global divisions over Afghanistan’s political direction, have been laid bare when a UN appeal for $4.4bn (£3.35bn) to help Afghanistan fell massively short, the second UN donor conference in a month to do so.

Donor countries pledged only $2.44bn towards the appeal, a senior UN official said on Thursday after a high-level pledging conference.

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Afghanistan aid pledges could fall far short of target, officials fear

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Taliban’s increasingly repressive rule could lead to donor backlash at UN pledging conference on Thursday

Western officials fear a UN pledging conference this Thursday aimed at raising more than $4.4bn (£3.34bn) aid for Afghanistan is likely to fall well short of its target. One UN official admitted he feared the Taliban’s increasingly repressive rule would lead to a donor backlash.

The new UN appeal, on top of the flash appeal for $600m in the immediate wake of the Taliban takeover in August, is hoping to raise the biggest sum ever for a single country at a pledging conference.

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Australia fast-tracked visas for Afghan army officers after warning of negative publicity, documents show

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Briefing to Peter Dutton five days after fall of Kabul reveals department’s concern over Afghan officers who had studied in Australia

The Morrison government fast-tracked visas for 11 Afghan army officers who studied at Australian defence colleges after officials warned Peter Dutton a failure to help them would generate negative news stories, documents reveal.

A briefing to the defence minister, obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws, said the group was “of high profile and at considerable risk” of Taliban retribution.

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Taliban reversal on girls’ education derails US plan for diplomatic recognition

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Joint event had been planned ahead of Doha Forum that would have set process in motion to grant group diplomatic recognition

The US was poised to set the Taliban on the path to diplomatic recognition before the plan was derailed by the Afghan rulers’ sudden U-turn on a promise to allow girls’ education, the Guardian understands.

The group prompted international outrage and confusion on Wednesday when it reneged on a deal to allow teenage girls to go to secondary school, just a week after the education ministry announced that schools would open for all students.

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‘Open the schools’: Afghan girls protest in Kabul for right to education

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Two dozen girls and women react to Taliban’s decision to shut secondary schools to girls across Afghanistan

Women and girls staged a protest near the Taliban’s ministry of education in Kabul on Saturday, calling on the group to reopen girls’ secondary schools in Afghanistan.

The protesters chanted: “Education is our right – open the doors of girls’ schools!” as armed Taliban members looked on. They held banners that said: “Education is our fundamental right, not a political plan” as they marched for a short distance. They dispersed when Taliban fighters arrived at the scene later.

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Taliban U-turn over Afghan girls’ education reveals deep leadership divisions

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A lack of teachers and school uniform issues blamed for school closures but confusion is a sign of differences in vision for Afghanistan’s future

Earlier this week, girls across Afghanistan arrived for lessons on the day secondary schools were due to open for them for the first time since the Taliban seized power. They were told to go home, and informed schools would remain shut indefinitely.

As international outrage grew at the U-turn, the official Taliban response was confused and contradictory. The group blamed a lack of teachers on the closures and said they first needed to create an appropriate environment for girls to study, and decide on appropriate uniforms.

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Boris Johnson did prioritise animal charity for Afghan evacuation, MPs told

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Second whistleblower suggests to committee that top civil servants lied to cover up episode

A second whistleblower has gone public to say it was “widespread knowledge” in government that Boris Johnson ordered the prioritisation of an animal charity based in Afghanistan for evacuation during the Taliban takeover last summer.

Josie Stewart, who worked in the Foreign Office for seven years, including a stint in the Kabul embassy, suggested senior civil servants in the department had lied to cover up the embarrassing episode.

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Afghanistan’s former finance minister is now Uber driver in Washington DC

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Washington Post rides with Khalid Payenda, who left for the US before the fall of Kabul

Days before Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last August, Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president, was “welcomed” to the United Arab Emirates. He was alleged to have taken with him $169m, from his country’s treasury.

Six months on, Khalid Payenda, once Ghani’s finance minister, is driving an Uber in Washington DC.

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